From designing creative schools, investigating the smartest kids from Finland, Korea, and Poland, and learning to be teacherpreneurs, I started my first month with the best ‘travelling’ experience to the future of education through the THREE must read books in education.
1. Creative Schools – Ken Robinson
With concrete and relevant future school samples exposed here, I am optimist we still have hope for designing the best educational system that fit with students’ passion and potential. This book give comprehensive and practical steps of how you make a change in schools from different perspectives such as parents, kids, teachers, curriculum designer and principal.
Here’s complete review of this book : Creative Schools
2. The Smartest Kids in the world-Amanda Ripley
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This book answered why and how some countries have the smartest kids in the world who achieved high score in PISA Test. Surprisingly, we would find a large contrast of how education system is implemented differently in Finland, Korea, and Poland can produce the brilliant students.
Yet, we will find one common key of how they got that way: They are making education seriously for life with various technique, well-trained teachers, a rigorous curriculum and a challenging exam required of all graduating seniors.
Amanda Ripley : Ask the Kids
South Korea make exam as ‘god’ of study meanwhile Finland put top priority on teachers education, training, and preparation.“It was relentless and excessive, yes, but it also felt more honest. Kids in South Korea understood the value of persistence. They knew what it felt like to fail, work harder and do better. Ripley writes “They spent more than twelve hours there every weekday — and they already went to school almost two months longer than kids back in Minnesota. His classmates slept in their classes for one primal reason: because they were exhausted.”
High quality of Finland education lies on the quality of teachers. Ripley writes that “Finish teachers had to first get accepted into one of only eight prestigious teacher-training universities, high test scores and good grades, read four books selected by the university, then sit for a special exam. Only 20 percent of applicants were accepted.” In this book, you will see the real impact of “a serious intellectual culture in schools.”
3. Teacherpreneur
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This book is full of surprises. At first, I did not know that teacherpreneurs is even exist in this world. Then, I was amazed at how those kinds of teachers make their teaching visible and heard and lead a change in their school. In fact, this is common role in Finland as all teachers see themselves as leaders that are trusted to lead what goes on in school, curriculum and assessment.
(http://www.teachingquality.org/content/2014-2015-teacherpreneurs-announcement-print-version)
Teacher leadership will produce more teacherpeneurs in the future. They are being cultivated and grown in a lot of difficult resistance and challenges in U.S. This book also discussed practical steps of how we could prepare, sustain, and plan teacherpreneur role who lead and teach but not leave. With complete teacherpreneur’s curriculum vitae, typical daily schedule, checklist, monthly reflections, and work plans, this book provides strong foundation of creating future education with teacherpreneurs.
Here’s the informative video of the meaning of teacherpreneurs:
Theodor Seuss Geisel (a.k.a. Dr. Seuss) once wrote: “The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more you learn the more places you’ll go.” At the end, I wish this post inspire you to read this book. Just email me at steven.sutantro@gmail.com if you want to borrow this book (first come first serve) and let me know if you have other ‘must read’ books in education I can borrow! Let’s ‘EXCHANGE inspiration ! Get ready for the most inspiring journey to another future of education!
